Why I Oughta...

As I was walking by the old Plass furniture store in downtown Elmhurst, I saw a crew of guys putting up this plastic sheeting on the inside of the windows.  The store has been mostly empty (except for some random antique appliances and weird discount mattresses) since the place closed in 2013.   Almost two years ago, I covered the store closing here . The store is HUGE, so it is a big opportunity for downtown Elmhurst/City Centre.  One of the things I think the community could support would be some sort of incubator.  Have a certified kitchen/lab than can bring people out of their home kitchens.  Have a store-front to sell goods for independents and have some co-creation space for others.  Kind of a blend between a co-op and a tech incubator.  There's enough space in there to do so much in one location. Have to think that the City would help support something along those lines and it could bring a nice shot of activity to the city centre, right?

I covered Vinylmations earlier this year on the blog , but we were in the Disney Store recently and came across these Cinderella-themed Vinylmations and it took all the impulse control in my body to not gobble up 3 or 15 of these for the girls and I to open as we squeal all the way home. If I go back, maybe we'll pick up a few of these boxes?  As long as we get the evil Stepmother, everything will be right in the world, right?!?

Back in January, I went to what I *think* was my first Chicago Blackhawks game with some buddies .  Last week, I went with the full 19-headed monster to the game against the Devils.  The seats, weren't...ahem...quite the same.  It still was a lot of fun and I got to take the Babe with me - so we had some good daddy/daughter time. Now....being up in the 300 level, things weren't all bad.  There are some advantages of 'seeing the game' from up there, but let's be honest:  everyone in any of the 300 level seats would switch in a heartbeat with someone in row 4 down close to the glass.  But, when you're with 18 members of your family, it doesn't matter where you sit.  It is going to be fun.

We went to Al's #1 Italian Beef over the long holiday weekend and on the wall there were just a handful of photo endorsements.  The usual suspects of Mayor Daley, Steve 'The Hungry Hound' Dolinsky were up there.  And so were a few wrasslers . And then there was this Paula Deen one.  Prominently displayed for all to see.    Seems her clout on food issues has dropped a bit, hasn't it?   Or...once you get a Paula Deen photo, you keep that photo?  Is that the case?

Me?  I call them 'poonch-keys' just like my Mama does. Nat went out of her way to pick some tasty treats up from the bakery - which I devoured.

In my office at work, I now have two wall calendars hanging on the all.  Both of them were shipped to me as 'gifts' from two different groups.  The one of the left is a Disney calendar that came as part of my D23 membership .  The one on the right came from the University of Illinois as part of their outreach program.  I have them both hanging right by my desk and - as of now - they're currently set to the right month. But...I have to wonder:  do these things provide any utility any longer?  I certainly don't mark them up with important dates and events.  In fact...I'll be surprised that I keep up with changing the months in a timely fashion.  The number of times I've walked into offices and people had their wall calendars set to 3 months earlier is too many to count. So...what do you think?  Wall calendars still useful?  Don't tell me you give them as gifts, do you?  Or...maybe...people love them?  (Some people?!?) I'm all set, thank you.

We were in the Toys r Us over the weekend trying to get our hands on some Shopkins when I saw a whole aisle of these white-boxed Pixar-branded toys.  If you know your Pixar movies, you'll know that there are guys from Nemo and Incredibles in this photo.  There were also the robots from Wall-E, Monsters from Monsters Inc and even some guys from Up and Bugs Life. What struck me as odd, however...is that these things are branded and packaged in all white packaging with just the Disney Pixar branding on them.  Further down the aisle, there were ToyStory toys like Buzz packaged up in Toy Story-ish boxes.  But...not these guys. Seems strange, right?

Was in and out of Denver Colorado (Or Denver Avocado as The Babe calls it!) in the flash of an eye recently.  I took just one photo while I was there and it was this brochure sitting on the check-in desk of the hotel. Not exactly the way you want to 'see' Denver, eh?  Maybe next time we'll have more time to take in the local...ahem...culture.

Yesterday on the Dan Patrick Show, they had Bill Hader on the show to promote the big 40th Anniversary of SNL show that's airing tomorrow.  In the interview, Dan Patrick asked Hader (who has appeared on Stern and was/is hilarious) who on the show made him laugh.  He said that Jon Hamm and (surprise!) Taylor Swift were very funny as hosts.  And that one of the fellow cast members who always made him laugh was Will Forte. He pointed out the sketch where Forte was a basketball coach and decided to do a motivational dance at halftime.  Everyone - including Peyton Manning, Keenan Thompson and Bill Hader himself have to cover their faces because they're laughing so hard. I had to go back and find it and rewatch it.   There's a ratty copy up on YouTube that has low volume , but you can still watch it.  Man...Will Forte *is* committed to the sketch.  The Herb Alpert tune doesn't hurt.  Hilarious.

The Bulls/DRose stuff is great.  But...the Illini hoops squad making the homepage with a win? Makes this Friday morning all that much better.